I was there a year already. I was new to Austin. It was a phone support position at Dell. This group (The Swamp) represented the entire force that answered the phones from 21:00-08:00. All night! We handled international calls, TDD calls and all product lines from software to laptops to servers and networking.

My mind has just flooded with memories. They are all good memories. It was a joy to see all of the faces again. We were a close bunch and we were proud of our company and our products that we supported. Every member of the group were the best at Dell. I feel that we represented the company well and played a key role in forming a number one company.

The good ole days!

Thanks, Mario!!!

Can you find Tom?

We were messin’ around in PhotoBooth. She had to double-check and make sure my eyes didn’t really look like they did on the screen. It was funny.

Zoe and Dad have crazy eyes!

Check this out:

Zoe Facts

We went swimming, looked at a really cool butterfly garden, ate fruit and drank TONS of water.

There were waterfalls and different things to look at everywhere. There was a bath house and a shaved ice stand. There was a rope swing into the water and rock diving. You can cook out there and picnic. Soooooo much to do and it is a really big place.

The place to eat afterwards is Opie’s BBQ a couple of miles down the road. Really yummy BBQ. It is BYOB though.

We had an hour drive home but before landing, we snuck in a bit of ice cream.

We will be going again soon as it is well shaded and the cool water is what the doctor ordered for a hot day!  

Drip Coffee Maker

She is so stinking strong and smart. I catch mom and I saying some ridiculous things.

“Put down the table, please.”
“Please put the minivan back on all four wheels.”
“Zoe, can you please solder the capacitors and resistors back in the remote control?”
“Hurry and complete your calculus equation so we can all get to bed.”
“Please complete your last stitch in the wounded squirrel so you can finish your welding project.”
“Expedite your negotiation of that suicidal man on the top of the building since our movie will start in ten minutes.”

Ok, I might be exagerrating a bit. I don’t let Zoe weld yet.

I have to do one-footed jumping jacks while the scan is going on.

Image GPS Location:
Latitude 30.227/ Longitude -97.7848333333

Image GPS Location:
Latitude 30.2271666667/ Longitude -97.785

We shared the protein bar and she said that it was the best one EVER! She makes me so happy!

I was sad to see her lose her close friend but on the selfish side, I’ll be missing the funny comments.  I wanted to do something for her and also share the great posts she put up.  I made a webpage that displays random quotes from her posts and asked her permission to share the link.

Her reply message was very kind and she expressed her acceptance of the webpage.  Please check out MeAndMelD.com and share it with your friends.  Click the Facebook like buttons and let your friends know which ones you like.

http://MeAndMelD.com

2010:

Zoe’s hair is really cute in these videos.  Zoe looks like a little devil in the video where she is giving me a hard time.

• Eat faster, puppies
• She started early as a director
• Cute dog feeder
• Zoe is giving Dad a hard time

2009:

Poor Tammy.  We are such noobs at being parents.  She was having a difficult time.  I had a difficult time with Zoe’s choice of first words.

• Tammy is faced with difficult times
• June 1, 2009 – Zoe’s first word – Not June 3rd but important.

2008:

Zoe was in Tammy’s belly.  I just got a new truck and we got Anneliese the travel trailer.  I believe that I was sick on these days.

• Tammy was preggo and I was pointing out a Motortrend article about my truck (new at the time)

Supposed to be jacked up

I have to see a specialist either way.

Today I analyzed the data between 03/11/2011 and 05/02/2011.  I kept fuel logs in that range for the car.  I kept logs in the truck as well during the time I owned it (I wrote an app for my phone to record GPS coords and other data and use it daily for this type of stuff).  In that date range, I drove 3,159.7 miles.  I spent $550.46 in fuel at 22.06mpg average.  The truck was averaging 14.56mpg.  I do have to put super-unleaded fuel in the car versus the normal fuel for the truck.  The average price in that timeframe was $3.8071/gal.  I would discount that average by $0.20 if calculating for the truck since it used the less expensive fuel. 

That 6.5 week span would have been $782.52 in the truck (discounted fuel rate used) versus the $550.46 in the car.  That is a $232.06 delta which averages to $35.70 a week savings!   At that rate, it will save $1,856.47 in 52 weeks (1 year). 

As fuel prices increase, so will the weekly savings.  Oil changes in both vehicles are higher than the $19.95 specials in the standard car.  Tires on both vehicles are about the same price.   Insurance is ~$6.00 less in the car per year.  Maintenance should be about the same.  I’ll keep track over time.

I made a very good descision.  I am happy with it.

This is Fritz!

In our Strawberry patch I’ve already found several strawberries coming. The only problem I’m having is finding straw! It’s impossible! Why does everyone sell strawberry plants and no straw??

Found 2 more today

We will have 9 or 10 plants this year

The Pepper Plants all have blooms and some bell peppers coming

We have Yellow, Chocolate and Red Bell peppers

We have 24 Bean plants. 8 of each of the 3 types. All of them have blooms

We have Green Beans, Yellow Beans and Italian Green Beans

We have Chamomile started, tho it hasn’t grown far. I had trouble with it last year…Maybe it’s my seeds.

Left: Onion Plant (trying for seeds), Right: Chamomile

Also, there's another pot to the left you can barely see that's Little Gem Lettuce

We have 4 determinate (bush) tomatoes and 3 indeterminate (vining) tomatoes (they are still really small tho). The bush type already have many blooms and several tomatoes coming.

We have 4 bush type tomato plants

we have three small indeterminate tomato plants

All the bushy stuff are potatoes, I had no idea they took over like that...Lesson learned!

All 15 garlic are now growing!

This guy requires constant water

Left to right: Flowers, Chives, Cilantro, flowers, flowers, Basil

Getting beaten up in the wind!